1. Use Basecamp – the students who have really taken to Basecamp speak of its usefulness in terms of time-lining their tasks and assessments and also like the reminders that pop up, in case you do ever forget them!
2. Ask for support if you need it – There are so many people who are here to help you with your climb up Mount HSC. Teachers, family, friends and coaches can all provide assistance to the problems you are facing.
3. Find your motivation – What is it that is getting you through the HSC? Is it that awesome ATAR, your dream uni course, getting to go on that gap year or making yourself proud? What it is, know that everything you do this year is getting you closer to it. Writing it on a poster or pinning pictures on your desk can ensure that you remain focused, even when you don’t feel like it.

Having said this, HSC Coworks are here to support you in any way possible. Basecamp is an awesome tool that allows you to set reminders, use a calendar and set due dates so that you can stay on top of it. We are highly aware that some students ‘don’t do emails’. However we think that it is vitally important that you make it a habit to do so, just as you would check your Facebook and text messages. This is just another cog in the journey to becoming self-reliant and independent life learners.

We also encourage parents to keep involved with their student’s tasks and events. Reading the HSC CoWorks newsletter each week, informs you of all the programs we run as well as offering handy tips and videos.

The post Motivating Your Way Up Mount HSC appeared first on HSC CoWorks.

Business Chicks is Australia’s largest networking community for women in business. They believe that great stuff happens when women come together to uplift and inspire each other. When they stop competing, and start lending a hand. When they give of their expertise and themselves so that others can benefit from it. They want to always use their success to give others a hand up.

From the Business Chicks website:

“We’re not just building a business at Business Chicks; we’re creating a movement. We invest heavily in our people and ensure that everything we do reflects the brand we’re working to build – from the way we market our products and communicate with our members to the culture we live and breathe at our headquarters. Our team run the business as if it were their own and in turn, we support our team’s personal goals and visions.

Business Chicks is a unique place to work. It’s a fast paced, entrepreneurial environment, where creativity and fun and being challenged are paramount. We’re restless. We want to be better. We want to grow. We want to learn and give back and make the world sunnier. If you want this too, then we’d love to talk!”

Watch this video to see what Business Chicks is all about!

The post Cool Company To Work For #14: Business Chicks appeared first on HSC CoWorks.

1. It’s about the life long learning skills. The skills that you learn regarding determination, focus, passion and commitment are skills that will set you up well in life. Setting yourself a goal at the beginning of the year that you push to achieve through dedicating yourself to it, is the first of many times you will need that inspiration to achieve something. The brain based learning we espouse at HSC CoWorks that aims to focus on the ‘vision’ and remaining in a positive “toward” state will help you throughout your life, across all areas.

2. It’s important to keep the balance. What kept me sane during the HSC was my extra-curricular activities that gave me a break and a chance to clear my head throughout the hectic times of the HSC campaign. The students who perform the best are often those who have maintained their commitment to their sport, leadership activities or even their afternoon walk. This also ensures good time management skills and goal setting skills for HSC success.

3. You are not alone. The HSC journey is one that is shared with other students, past and present, parents and and the team at HSC CoWorks that are backing you all the away.The team of HSC CoWorks coaches have conquered Mount HSC and can provide invaluable support for your climb. If you need support always free to ask one of us or post a message on your Basecamp project.

4. The HSC is an opportunity to stand up and be noticed. The great thing about the HSC is that it is a system that rewards hard work. If you want a great HSC result you can have it as long as you are prepared to put in the hard yards.

HSC CoWorks offers HSC Tuition and HSC Coaching in a number of subjects. Our team is made up of a team of HSC experts. Experienced HSC teachers, HSC markers, high achieving ex-students and certified life coaches. We have been a part of successful HSC campaigns since 1996 and in this time we have worked with 1000s of students as they have made the climb up Mount HSC® to get into their dream University course.

Phoebe

Team Leader

The post Lessons Learnt From The HSC appeared first on HSC CoWorks.

One of our favourite quotes at the office is “without struggle there is no progress” which we have put an HSC slant on it to “if you’re not struggling you’re not studying right”. It is human nature for us to seek out the tasks that create the least amount of stress for us however I think we would all agree that the tasks that offer the least amount of stress provide little opportunity for growth. The student who continually puts themselves under pressure and gets comfortable outside their comfort zone will ultimately come out on top.

What do I mean by “struggling” when studying? If the task that you are doing requires you to think about the best way to solve a problem you will be activating the Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC)  part of your brain and developing new neural connections/maps which you will own and be able to take into the exam room with you. Too often I see students copying out there essay time and time again and while I acknowledge their commitment, they are not engaging their PFC and therefore not creating new connections. A far better exercise would be to choose a new question and give yourself 45 minutes to do the question without your notes and see how you go. You can go back over your essay once completed to fill in any gaps.

I often use the analogy of building muscles at the gym to explain this. If I pick up a small weight to do some bicep curls will this grow my muscles? No, it’s a complete waste of time. If I lift a weight that is either at my limit or slightly above my limit will my muscles grow? Absolutely. Once I have torn my muscles with the heavier weight I may then go to the lighter weight to tear the muscle further but only after I have struggled with the larger weight.

Relaying that into an HSC context, a student who is reading notes, re-doing notes, searching on the internet for more information, highlighting notes, creating notes is not struggling at all and without struggle there is no progress. On the other hand the student who is practicing writing essays under timed conditions, attempting Maths exams under timed conditions, attempting Economics essays and short answers (you get the idea) under timed conditions is creating new connections and will be fully prepared for the task ahead.

We know that the Pre Frontal Cortex is a limited resource and once exhausted it is difficult to focus on higher level thinking tasks. Doing 3 x 3 hour Mock Exams in one day would be difficult for anyone. Once it is exhausted then a student is able to go to looking at notes and filling in the gaps in their knowledge that they discovered from doing the exam style tasks.

The extra marks and great HSC exam results belong to those students who are prepared to step out of their comfort zone and spend more time than other students in simulating the exam situation. This is why at HSC CoWorks we run an extensive Mock Trial Exam program to provide the best possible simulation of the HSC Exam room. As I write this blog, there are 30 students in our Bondi Junction tuition centre completing an exam. I know that these students will attain much stronger results as a result of this exercise.

If you have any questions about HSC tuition and HSC Coaching at the HSC CoWorks please contact us on 1300 967 890.

Keep up the great work team and enjoy the struggle!

Jesse

Performance Coach at HSC CoWorks

The post Struggling Is Essential For A Great HSC Result appeared first on HSC CoWorks.

You may have received a card in your letterbox drop over the last few days letting you know that the team behind FergHSC  in Bondi Junction are bringing our HSC tuition program to the the North Shore of Sydney. We wouldn’t normally consider a letterbox drop however because our service is so valuable to improving the lives of young people we wanted to make sure you knew about us. We have a range of services to suit all student’s needs.

Welcome to The CoWorks

We checked out the office building works yesterday and we can safely say it looks amazing and we are on schedule to open our doors on Sunday 3rd February! HSC students on the North Shore of Sydney will soon have access to the premier Sydney HSC tuition centre located conveniently at Spit Junction Mosman.

At our open day on the 3rd of February you will be able to meet our team of experienced HSC teachers and markers as well as our ex-students who undergo extensive training to become our tutors. You will be able to see our brand new purpose built 21st Century learning space designed for optimal learning and engagement.

Perfect learning environment

At the open day we will be running two workshops on HSC English “Belonging” to showcase our systems for success in the only common topic which all HSC students will study in HSC 2012/13. Session 1 runs from 11am to 11:40am and Session 2 runs from 12:00pm through to 12:40pm.

We will have experts on hand in Maths(all levels), English(All Levels), Economics, Business Studies, Chemistry, Physics, Modern History and more. They will be there to engage with students and work through some questions or build ideas on the whiteboard. We are all about engagement and interactivity rather than passive learning which is more likely to put students to sleep!

We are really excited to have the opportunity to work with students from Mosman and surrounding areas. We love what we do and are sure that every student will have a great experience with us whether it be through our premium tuition program, our holiday study bootcamps, weekend supervised study sessions or our series of text and topic specific seminars.

We hope you can make it to the Open day (Sunday the 3rd of February 10am to 1pm).

If you can’t make the open day but would like to find out more about our service and preparing your child for the HSC, please let us know and we are more than happy to arrange a personal tour of our learning space and discuss how we can support your student to HSC success.

Contact us about our Open Day.

The post Open Day – Sunday 3rd of February 10AM to 1PM appeared first on HSC CoWorks.

From Term 1 2013 we will be opening our doors in Mosman to provide our comprehensive HSC tuition program as well as our series of HSC events to students who live on the North Shore of Sydney. Since 1996 we have had many students who have made the weekly journey to our offices in Bondi Junction coming from Mosman, Longueville, Manly, Lane Cove, Balmoral, Balgowlah Castlecrag, Northbridge and sometimes further but from Term 1 2013 on students living in these areas will only need to travel to Spit Junction in Mosman to access our systems for HSC success.

From 1996 to today we have developed programs and systems that go a long way to ensuring our students become successful HSC candidates and life long learners . Our record on a yearly basis both of excellent individual subject results and HSC state all-rounders reflect both the value of our systems and our ongoing commitment to student results.

We believe that great results whether in English, Maths or Chemistry come from a willingness to develop the skill rather than assume that great results come from something called ‘talent.’ If you want a great result you can have it.

We believe that working closely with each student by considering their individual needs is the key to HSC success. No two students are the same and we are committed to achieving the best outcome for each of our students at The CoWorks Mosman Students often travel through school unnoticed and avoiding the subjects that they don’t feel confident in. At The CoWorks Mosman, we monitor student performance on an ongoing basis and act accordingly.

This is why we have developed an HSC tuition model where your student can choose to be supported in the subject they need help with rather than a rigid structure that meets the needs of the school or tutor. Needless to say we are always working on whatever your student is working on at school and our goal is to build confidence and achieve great results in subjects where a student might be lacking confidence as well as maintaining strong performance in preferred subjects.

Our one stop HSC tuition service for all subjects gives students the freedom to focus on the subject or topic that requires the most attention at a particular time to optimise their performance in assessment tasks and exams.

Whilst schools generally do a good job of teaching content we know that students want to know how to write a great essay or how to do well in their Economics exam because a great result is what its all about. We are yet to meet an HSC candidate who doesn’t want to do well.

In the school environment teachers are forced to race through course material often leaving behind students who fail grasp concepts. For example in Maths if a student fails to grasp a significant step in a topic, that will impact on their capacity to understand other components of the topic and the course overall and as you will know this will impact on your students confidence moving forward. Further, in subjects like History and English, a classroom teacher often doesn’t have the time to teach the skill of essay writing.  We have a system for teaching the skill of essay writing.

This is where we step in. We are constantly reviewing students understanding of topics by providing exam style tasks in every session as well as having an interactive online program that further supports student performance.

We have trained, experienced  HSC teachers,and ex-FergHSC students who are high achievers themselves who have been rigorously trained in our systems who will be working with your student. Our team not only have detailed textual  or topic knowledge, but they understand that the main game is the acquisition of skill and confidence when dealing with assessment tasks and exams. The tutors own recent experience of the HSC is invaluable for current students.

We are talking about  providing our students with the acquisition of lifetime learning skills and we have a lot of anecdotal evidence from ex-students who are still using our strategies at university and beyond.

Needless to say we are highly familiar with the HSC cycle and acknowledge that for many students for the first time in their lives they have to become accountable. They don’t want to to walk out of that last exam saying ‘I Wish I’d done more study’. They want to leave that last exam saying ‘I went hard, I learnt to put in, I’m really looking forward to my results coming out, I really deserve a great time at schoolies, a gap year or uni. and I‘m ready for the next exciting stage of my life!’

We look forward to meeting you at our Open Day or if  you are viewing this after the 3rd of February  fielding your enquiry about further information or seeking an interview to enrol your student in our program.

Contact us about our Open Day.

The post Mosman Tuition Centre – The CoWorks Is About To Open appeared first on HSC CoWorks.